ANNR Election Season
Every two years, AANR holds elections for its members. Ballots are included in your May Bulletins..
There is a Proposed Bylaw Amendment to modify the bylaws to refer to botha procedure manual and a governance manual. This allows the office to manage day to day office while allowing your board to make policy and governance decisions.
Only two of the offices are in contention. There are two candidates running for President,Tim Mullins and Beverly B. Price. And there are two candidates running for Vice-president, Sharon McLeod and Robert Roche.
Click to view the campaign posters for Bev Price, Sharon McLeod and the team of Tim Mullins and Robert Roche.
Traditionally, there has been about a 5-7% turnout. Go to http://www.aanr.com/blog/welcome-to-the-2014-aanr-voters-guide/, make your decisions and vote. Let’s have a much improved turnout this year.
Related Images:
Nudity, Nudism and our Society – Part 5
by Mel Kanner
Number 5 in a series of articles examining the changes that I have observed to the practice of nudism over the years and our society’s view of nudity.
More about Looky-Loos (LL’s)
We have always had LL’s. Even in a “textile” environment: on a beach, at a public swimming pool, or even on the street, there are going to be people (particularly men) looking at others (particularly women).
Men look at women — with admiration, with hope, with desire, with … I am sure that psychologists, anthropologists, sociologists, and other observers of human behavior can give you more ideas on why and how this occurs, and the variations of this behavior among our different cultures, but in general this seems to be universal.
Women grow up with an awareness of the various degrees of looking: the appreciative glance, the longer look when the men think they are being unobserved. And they also experience the leers, the catcalls, the invitations, the name-calling. They are taught at an early age never to be seen by boys in a state of undress. They are taught to put up with inappropriate sexual remarks, unwanted sexual advances, not to walk by themselves at night in out -of-the-way places. And they experience that every day. This is part of their lives.
(At the same time they have also learned that how they dress and how they look is really important. The venders in our society take advantage of this by providing ways to change their weight, or their hair, or their eyelashes, or their boobs. More about that, perhaps, in a future article.)
Women look at men too, but perhaps not in the same way. At least they don’t seem to. Perhaps that is cultural, something left over from our puritanical heritage. I am sure that those “-ologists” that I named also have something to say about that. That appears to be changing some in our society — “Playgirl” magazine has become almost as popular as “Playboy”.
There are various degrees of “looking” and most forms are not a problem, even in a nude environment. Men who visit our parks or beaches solely for the purpose of expected sexual excitement, are usually disappointed. They find that the environment is not sexual at all, or not sexual enough. Nudists are all different sizes, shapes and ages. The number of nude “10’s” they expected to see are few or non-existent (there are not many 10’s in this world — they seem to exist mostly in movies and magazines, and our imaginations). Sexual “cavorting on the lawn” is not standard behavior. They get bored and leave.
When there are large crowds at our parks or beaches, LL’s are usually not even noticeable. At Blacks with only a handful of people on the beach the LL’s stood out. It was obvious what their intentions were, and the Blacks Beach Bares were able to circumvent those intentions. And at our nudist parks the LL’s usually choose to leave or are politely asked to.
But there are some LL behaviors that are a problem. One is staring.
Staring: to gaze fixedly and intently, especially with the eyes wide open, boldly or obtrusively conspicuous, or with intense scrutiny.
Staring is not polite under any circumstances. We just don’t do that. It makes people uneasy, uncomfortable, and afraid. Especially women.
And women know why men are staring at them — it is sexual, and objectifying, and demeaning. And it could be dangerous.
It is not surprising that women in the past have been reluctant to visit nudist parks.
It doesn’t have to be this way. Responsible nudists at beaches or parks can, by observing undesirable behavior, intervene to “politely police” the area to discourage unwanted behavior and thus make women and families more safe and comfortable.
Related Images:
Northwest Nude News 04/26/2014
Northwest Nude News 04/26/2014
AANR-Northwest
This week in the Northwest 4/25-51
*Friday*
Black Light Karaoke – 7pm – Fraternity Snoqualmie
Meet & Greet @ Campfire – 7:00pm – LARC
*Saturday*
Opening the Mountain – Bare Backers
Road Cleanup, Food and Fun – Bare Spirits
AANR-NW Earth Day Tree Planting @ Rooster Rock
9am
Spring Annual Shareholder’s Meeting – 10am – Lake Bronson
General Membership Meeting – 1pm – Bare Backers
Retry Easter Egg Hunt – 2pm – Sun Meadow Resort
Spring Annual Membership Meeting – 4pm – Lake Bronson
Games Night 7:30pm – Fraternity Snoqualmie
Sauna Night 7:30pm – SLUGS
Karaoke – 7:30pm – LARC
Blakely’s After Dark Presents: Karaoke & Open Mic Nigh – 8:30pm – Lake
Bronson
*Sunday*
Brunch – 9:00am – LARC
Board Meeting – 12pm – Fraternity Snoqualmie
Membership Meeting – 1pm – Fraternity Snoqualmie
Next week in the Northwest 5/2 – 5/9
*Friday*
Meet & Greet @ Campfire – 7:00pm – LARC
*Saturday*
Work Party – 10am – Squaw Mountain Ranch
Taco/Burrito Bar – 12pm – LARC
Cinco de Mayo Dance – 7:30pm – – LARC
*Monday*
Spa Night @ LadyWells – 6pm – SLUGS
AANR Election
Every two years, AANR holds elections for its members. Ballots are
included in your May Bulletins..
There is a Proposed Bylaw Amendment
to modify the bylaws to refer to botha procedure manual and a governance
manual. This allows the office to manage day to day office while
allowing your board to make policy and governance decisions.
Only two of the offices are in contention. There are two candidates
running for President,Tim Mullins and
B. Price
And there are two candidates running for Vice-president, Sharon McLeod
Robert Roche
Click to view the campaign posters for Bev Price
Sharon McLeod
and the team ofTim Mullins and Robert Roche.
Traditionally, there has been about a 5-7% turnout. Go to
http://www.aanr.com/blog/welcome-to-the-2014-aanr-voters-guide/
make your decisions and vote. Let’s have a much improved turnout this year.
Nudity, Nudism and our Society – Part 5
by Mel Kanner
Number 5 in a series of articles examining the changes that I have
observed to the practice of nudism over the years and our society’s view
of nudity.
Archive: #1
#2
#3
#4
*More about Looky-Loos (LL’s)*
We have always had LL’s. Even in a “textile” environment: on a beach,
at a public swimming pool, or even on the street, there are going to be
people (particularly men) looking at others (particularly women).
Men look at women — with admiration, with hope, with desire, with … I
am sure that psychologists, anthropologists, sociologists, and other
observers of human behavior can give you more ideas on why and how this
occurs, and the variations of this behavior among our different
cultures, but in general this seems to be universal.
Women grow up with an awareness of the various degrees of looking: the
appreciative glance, the longer look when the men think they are being
unobserved. And they also experience the leers, the catcalls, the
invitations, the name-calling. They are taught at an early age never to
be seen by boys in a state of undress. They are taught to put up with
inappropriate sexual remarks, unwanted sexual advances, not to walk by
themselves at night in out -of-the-way places. And they experience that
every day. This is part of their lives.
(At the same time they have also learned that how they dress and how
they look is really important. The venders in our society take advantage
of this by providing ways to change their weight, or their hair, or
their eyelashes, or their boobs. More about that, perhaps, in a future
article.)
Women look at men too, but perhaps not in the same way. At least they
don’t seem to. Perhaps that is cultural, something left over from our
puritanical heritage. I am sure that those “-ologists” that I named also
have something to say about that. That appears to be changing some in
our society — “Playgirl” magazine has become almost as popular as “Playboy”.
There are various degrees of “looking” and most forms are not a problem,
even in a nude environment. Men who visit our parks or beaches solely
for the purpose of expected sexual excitement, are usually disappointed.
They find that the environment is not sexual at all, or not sexual
enough. Nudists are all different sizes, shapes and ages. The number of
nude “10’s” they expected to see are few or non-existent (there are not
many 10’s in this world — they seem to exist mostly in movies and
magazines, and our imaginations). Sexual “cavorting on the lawn” is not
standard behavior. They get bored and leave.
When there are large crowds at our parks or beaches, LL’s are usually
not even noticeable. At Blacks with only a handful of people on the
beach the LL’s stood out. It was obvious what their intentions were,
and the Blacks Beach Bares were able to circumvent those intentions. And
at our nudist parks the LL’s usually choose to leave or are politely
asked to.
But there are some LL behaviors that are a problem. One is staring.
Staring: to gaze fixedly and intently, especially with the eyes wide
open, boldly or obtrusively conspicuous, or with intense scrutiny.
Staring is not polite under any circumstances. We just don’t do that.
It makes people uneasy, uncomfortable, and afraid. Especially women.
And women know why men are staring at them — it is sexual, and
objectifying, and demeaning. And it could be dangerous.
It is not surprising that women in the past have been reluctant to visit
nudist parks.
It doesn’t have to be this way. Responsible nudists at beaches or parks
can, by observing undesirable behavior, intervene to “politely police”
the area to discourage unwanted behavior and thus make women and
families more safe and comfortable.
Related Images:
Free Full Certificate Training for AED, CPR, & First Aid
Squaw Mountain Ranch is offering a full training package for anyone attending May 17 & 18. Squaw Mountain Ranch member, Milan Miller, will be training students in AED, CPR, and First Aid. Completing students will have 2 years of National Good Samaritan Protection. The quality of this training will provide Health Care Providers with their required certificates.
- AED and CPR Training: Saturday 4-6 PM
- First Aid Training: Sunday 8-10 AM
Milan has been professionally training in this area for many years. His offer to SMR members and guests provides us all with a special opportunity.
Related Images:
Tribal ID Photography Project
At last weekend’s AANR-NW board meeting, the board made the decision to sponsor a photography project that will take place on our own Rooster Rock beach. This project is a book that explores man’s (or women’s) need to reconnect with his or her primitives self by covering their bodies with mud and being present in nature. It is being crowdsourced atIndegogo. If you would like more infomation or to help sponsor this project, go to https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/tribal-id#home. The deadline for sponsoring on Idegogo is April 21, which is Monday.
Related Images:
Northwest Nude News 4/18/2014
AANR-Northwest
This week in the Northwest 4/18-4/24
*Friday*
Meet & Greet @ Campfire – 7:00pm – LARC
*Saturday*
BOARD MEETING – 9:30am – The Willamettans
Egg Decorating – 10am – The Willamettans
Bonnet Decorating – 2pm – The Willamettans
Easter Potluck – 6pm – The Willamettans
Easter Bonnet Parade 7pm – The Willamettans
Movie Night – The Rogue Suncatchers
*Sunday*
Sunrise Service, followed by breakfast and Easter Egg hunt – 8am – Sun
Meadow Resort
Easter Egg Hunt – 10am – The Willamettans
GENERAL ASSEMBLY – 12:30pm – The Willamettans
Easter Potluck – 1pm – Fraternity Snoqualmie
Robie Creek Race – Bare Backers
Next week in the Northwest 4/25-5/1
*Friday*
Black Light Karaoke – 7pm – Fraternity Snoqualmie
Meet & Greet @ Campfire – 7:00pm – LARC
*Saturday*
Opening the Mountain – Bare Backers
Road Cleanup, Food and Fun – Bare Spirits
AANR-NW Earth Day Tree Planting @Rooster Rock
– 9am
Spring Annual Shareholder’s Meeting – 10am – Lake Bronson
General Membership Meeting – 1pm – Bare Backers
Spring Annual Membership Meeting – 4pm – Lake Bronson
Games Night 7:30pm – Fraternity Snoqualmie
Sauna Night 7:30pm – SLUGS
Karaoke – 7:30pm – LARC
Blakely’s After Dark Presents: Karaoke & Open Mic Nigh – 8:30pm – Lake
Bronson
*Sunday*
Brunch – 9:00am – LARC
Board Meeting – 12pm – Fraternity Snoqualmie
Membership Meeting – 1pm – Fraternity Snoqualmie
Tribal ID Photography Project
At last weekend’s AANR-NW board meeting, the board made the decision to
sponsor a photography project that will take place on our own Rooster
Rock beach. This project is a book that explores man’s (or women’s)
need to reconnect with his or her primitives self by covering their
bodies with mud and being present in nature. It is being crowdsourced
Indegog
If you would like more infomation or to help sponsor this project, go
to https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/tribal-id#home
The deadline for sponsoring on Idegogo is April 21, which is Monday.
Free Full Certificate Training for AED, CPR, & First Aid
Squaw Mountain Ranch is offering a full training package for anyone
attending May 17 & 18. Squaw Mountain Ranch member, Milan Miller, will
be training students in AED, CPR, and First Aid. Completing students
will have 2 years of National Good Samaritan Protection. The quality of
this training will provide Health Care Providers with their required
certificates.
* AED and CPR Training: Saturday 4-6 PM
* First Aid Training: Sunday 8-10 AM
Milan has been professionally training in this area for many years. His
offer to SMR members and guests provides us all with a special opportunity.
AANR-NW Earth Day Tree Planting
Don’t forget to join in the tree planting
at Rooster Rock State Park
on Saturday 26 April from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm. Celebrate Earth Day and
the tenth anniversary of AANR-NW’s adoption of Rooster Rock State Park
with us– we have 400 little tree seedlings to plant – rain or shine
/*Tune in next week for the next installment of Nudity, Nudism and our
Society.*/
Related Images:
Northwest Nude News 04/11/2014
|
Related Images:
Nudity, Nudism and our Society – Part 4
by Mel Kanner
Number 4 in a series of articles examining the changes that I have observed to the practice of nudism over the years and our society’s view of nudity.
——————————————————————————————–
More about beaches:
Ten years ago my wife and I worked as volunteer counselors, essentially chaperones, for one of the AANR nude youth summer camps, held at DeAnza Resort near San Diego. The youth camps program was started in the 90’s in Florida, and was designed for children of nudists from age 11 to 19. Like other summer camps, it is an opportunity for fun events, leadership training, and to gain knowledge about nudism. It is a very successful program. I will give more details about the program in a later article.
One of the scheduled events for the kids was an outing, a trip to Blacks Beach. The event was hosted by the Blacks Beach Bares. The BBB’s do a lot of volunteer work on the beach: keeping it clean, enhancing and maintaining the difficult trail down the cliff, and general policing.
It was a nice day, but being the middle of the week, there were not many people on the beach. A few adults, but no other kids. But, from time to time, we saw middle aged single men, not nude, planting themselves in positions where they could watch others. And some had cameras, with fancy lenses. This was a time prior to the sophisticated cameras we all carry in our cell phones now. Serious photography required some heavy equipment.
Most of these people are commonly referred to as “looky-loos”s, but some are serious pedophiles looking for opportunities to add to their collections of photographs of children. The kids were aware of these people. Part of the training at the summer camps is to learn how to recognize, from behaviors, the looky-loos (s), and how to respond — bring it to the attention of an adult in authority. They referred to them as COG’s (creepy old guys).
The BBB’s were also aware of interlopers like these and had developed very interesting techniques to counteract them without confrontation. One technique was to plant open beach umbrellas between the LL and their targets, essentially cutting off their view. Another is to form a line of people (men) with their backs to the LL, again cutting off their view. The LL’s eventually get the hint and leave.
Everyone enjoyed the hospitality of the BBB’s. Other than having to deal with the couple of LL’s that intruded, it was a successful outing.
There have always been LL’s at Blacks since I started going there in the 70’s. More than at other nude beaches I have visited. Oregon has two major nude beaches in the Portland area — Rooster Rock and Sauvie Island. Both are considered official nude beaches and the Oregon Park rangers have worked with AANR-NW to maintain, clean and make the beaches a safe environment for nudists. Appropriate signage is maintained, and “nudist behavior etiquette” instructions are given to visitors to the beach. LL’s do not seem to be a significant problem.
I am not much of a beach goer, but aside from Blacks and the Oregon beaches, I have been to two other major nude beaches, one in France (Cap d’Agde), and one in the Caribbean (Orient Beach on St. Martin). Cap d’Agde beach, on the Mediterranean, was about two miles long, and was always packed with people. Lots of families, lots of kids. No LL’s that I could see.
Orient Beach was also a beautiful beach, about a mile long, and when we first started going there, it was possible to  walk the whole beach nude even though the nude section was limited with signage to a short strip in front of the Club Orient resort. Later with more development of other resorts on the beach, the police started to enforce restricting the nudists to the nudist section.
There were very few kids. Many Europeans, and a large number of Americans, many who never participated in nudist activities in the U.S. There were few resident LL’s, but there were a significant number of “lookers” from the cruise ships. There were day excursions for the cruise ship visitors to Orient Beach specifically so they could see the nudes. We, the nudes on the beach, had a great time observing them as they paraded past us. I wouldn’t call them LL’s, as they were primarily there out of curiosity.
One of our nudist group would interact with the “lookers” by asking them for the time. And they had great difficulty responding because they were dealing with a normal person, rather than the characterization that they had of nudists.
In a subsequent piece I will discuss the problem with LLs on beaches and some other problems we have with nude beaches.
If you have any comments about any of these opinion pieces that I have written please email me rights-chair@aanr-nw.org
Related Images:
Nudity, Nudism and our Society – Part 3
by Mel Kanner
Number 3 in a series of articles examining the changes that I have observed to the practice of nudism over the years and our society’s view of nudity.
Number 3 in a series of articles examining the changes that I have observed to the practice of nudism over the years and our society’s view of nudity.
Some comments about the evolution of swim suits and nude beaches:
Through the 20th century swimming attire became less restrictive, more comfortable. And in some respects, more sexually provocative. In the early part of the century, women wore attire that covered them from head to toe, including stockings and a hat. Gradually the swimming suits got smaller covering less and less. Men went from a one piece suit that exented from the neck to mid-calf, to two piece suits consisting of shorts and a sleeveless top. By the 50’s women wore a one piece skin tight suit , made popular by Esther Williams in Hollywood productions designed to show women in swim suits. Men were no longer required to cover their chests.
Then came the “Itsy-Bitsy, Teenie-Weenie,Yellow, Polka-Dot Bikini”. The swim suit and the popular song appeared in 1960.
Beachwear has evolved even more since then. For a brief period there was the single-piece topless monokini, introduced by the fashion designer Rudi Gernreich (1964). It was too avant garde for Americans. The bikini stayed the standard for a long time. And recently became even smaller with the thong swim suit, which covers little more than the pubic area and the nipples. For men, there have been two separate evolutions: one is the speedo, and the other is a form of baggy shorts that extends below the knee. The baggy shorts version seems to be the most common today. I will examine that phenomenon later.
And that is where the evolution has stopped in the U.S, and I think it has reached a plateau. Even though it seemed to me, as a nudist, that eventually the swimsuit would disappear and that all public beaches would permit nudity. That seemed inevitable since this is what seemed to be happening in Europe and Australia/New Zealand and the Caribbean. There, topless was becoming the norm; nudist/naturist beaches were common; more nudist resorts were being developed, some with encouragement and financing by governments (e.g. Cap d’Agde in France).
Nudist/naturist beaches have increased in number significantly in the U.S. In 1955 I knew of no public beaches where one could swim nude. There were probably some out of the way places where it was traditional to swim nude, but none that were sanctioned by any government agencies. But, I was so sure that it was inevitable that I made a bet with a friend that by 1965 there would be a publicly sanctioned nude beach. I think I lost the bet (neither of us tried to collect), off by about 10 years.
In 1976, a portion of Blacks Beach, a 900 ft. section, owned by the city of San Diego, was officially designated by the city as a clothing optional public beach. Blacks Beach is two miles long, and with the exception of the 900 ft. section, is owned by the state of Calif, and is treated as a state park. It can be reached with difficulty — either a long walk in from either end, or a climb down (and up) a precarious cliff. It had been traditionally a nude beach, but had never been (and still isn’t) officially designated as one. Park rangers patrol it periodically and do not enforce any anti-nudity laws. (The story is a little more complicated than this. There have been varying degrees of agreement during the years between our nudist organizations and the state Parks Dept. on nude use in state parks.)
On opening day, 10,000 nude beach goers packed the 900 ft. section. Unfortunately, succumbing to pressure from residents in the vicinity, the city council reversed their decision. Since the 900 ft. section was no longer officially designated as a “public beach”, the city was no longer obligated to spend public monies on access, toilet facilities, maintenance, etc. The section reverted back to being treated as it it was just another piece of the state park.
I single out Blacks because it was the first nude beach that I was aware of, and when it was officially sanctioned by the city it felt as if what I had predicted was finally becoming true. I had been residing again in San Diego at that time, and I experienced great disappointment in the setback. However, upon reflection now, it was probably financial rather than anti-nudity that was the motivator for the San Diego city council to reverse their decision.
But the right economic model has helped other nude beaches in the country gain a foothold. The one that seems to work the best is Haulover Beach in Miami, FL. The beach draws a lot of tourists, particularly from Europe, who spend money on parking and motels and in the local stores.
There has been a lot of growth in the number of nude beaches and in nude use of public lands. There have been many setbacks, too, but overall there has been a net positive change.
In the next installments I will share some of my observations about the problems in the U.S. with nude beaches, some ways that we have dealt with them, and why I think we have reached a plateau in the evolution of the swimsuit.
(to be continued)